


a whimper

by writerdragonfly



Category: Criminal Minds, Daredevil (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hawaii Five-0 (2010), Leverage, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Supernatural, Teen Wolf (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Additional Fandoms/Characters/Pairings May Be Added, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, M/M, Multi, Please don't take this as an adequate example of my writing, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Season 1 (Daredevil), Post-Season 3B (Teen Wolf), Post-Season 5 (Hawaii Five-0), Post-Series (Leverage), Pre-Epilogue (Harry Potter), Vaguely Early Season 2 (The Flash)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-25
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-03 09:49:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5286095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerdragonfly/pseuds/writerdragonfly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>//This is the way the world ends<br/>Not with a bang but a whimper.//<br/>-T.S. Eliot’s The Hollow Men</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one-nine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dragdragdragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragdragdragon/gifts), [apinkducky](https://archiveofourown.org/users/apinkducky/gifts).



> Hiiiiii.
> 
> I'm writing this for fun. Nothing more, nothing less. I have every intention of adding a few more fandoms, but I didn't want to tag them until I wrote them, so I haven't.
> 
> Updates will be sporadic, but I hope to have more up within a couple days anyway. I promise NOTHING.
> 
> I've gifted to this to two wonderful people and I'm prettttty sure they both know why, even if they have no idea I was writing this.
> 
> Comments and suggestions are welcome.
> 
> Character Death warning does not currently apply to any tagged characters. Should it, in the future, I will make note of it.

 

#  **One:**

 

The night is slow and quiet. The night is slow and quiet in a way it hasn't been since his abilities were first developing and it's terrifying in its own way.

 

It feels like the calm before a storm, the calm before a storm borne of nightmares and worst-case scenarios.

 

Matt waits. Matt paces the length and depth of his apartment _waiting_ , a part of him too afraid to go outside.

 

A part of him too scared of the world outside to do anything about it.

 

For once.

 

His phone rings twice: _Foggy, Foggy._

 

Matt answers.

 

"What's wrong?"

 

There's no answer right away, just the sound of rustling fabric, heavy breathing, and Foggy's muffled heartbeat kicked into high gear.

 

And then, " _Matt!_ "

 

Matt does not hesitate. Does not pause for the dark red of his suit or the black of his old disguise.

 

Foggy is in trouble and Foggy is the most important thing in Matt's entire world and Foggy is Matt's world.

 

"Where are you?" He asks as he bolts up the stairs to the roof access, taking them two, three at a time.

 

There's no answer but a muffled heartbeat, still too fast.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Two:**

 

They're in New Jersey when it happens.  Steve is asleep in the sleeping bag on the floor next to him when Danny hears it.

 

A long screeching scream, and then silence.

 

Danny's up and on his feet at the same time as Steve, who's body screams hyper vigilance.

 

They're armed when they leave the bedroom, padding sock footed through Danny's childhood home.

 

It's pitch black and utterly silent, not even the underlying hum of working electricity present.

 

"Danno?" Grace whispers from the open guest room doorway, and Danny turns to see her with her hand clutched tightly around Charlie's.

 

"Take Charlie into the closet and lock the door, monkey," Danny tells her, pressing a kiss to her forehead and then one to Charlie's as well, "Danno loves you.

 

Danny and Steve move again once they hear the little click of the lock.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Three:**

 

Stiles has a headset on, the sound set two notches too high to be comfortable. He's leaning back in his computer chair, his feet crossed on the top of his desk, red licorice in his left hand and a PS4 controller in the right.

 

He doesn't hear the scream. The video game is too loud in his headset.

 

But then, he feels it. The wrongness. He peels off the headset and everything goes still.

 

The electricity snaps off, the tv clicking when it goes dark.

 

It's silent, and even though Stiles is used to the silence of an empty apartment at night, it feels like so much more.

 

He picks up his phone, scrolls down until he reaches Derek's name and calls.

 

It rings twice before he answers, his voice rough, "Stay inside, I'm on my way home."

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Four:**

 

He's baiting the Flash over their comms when they hear it, first a low grumbling then an outright shriek.  He has to clap his hands against his ears because the sound reverberates through the delicate communication system, and he gets the impression that they're still going to need the comms once it's done.

 

The comm unit crackles in his ears, but then settles into the low grade thrum it usually sits at when active and quiet.

 

He's supposed to be in his cell right now--would be in ten minutes when the guard was supposed to be leading him from the prison infirmary--but he's not. The mission the Flash had cautiously borrowed him for netted him with a comm unit and three broken fingers.

 

"What was that?" Barry asks, and Len's not sure the kid didn't sound _scared_.

 

"That's an excellent question, isn't it?"

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Five:**

 

She wakes up with a terrible start, panic bringing a scream to her lips that doesn't quite leave it. The screaming that wrenched her from a sound sleep is still going, and it’s adrenaline that brings her to her children's bedrooms without another thought.

 

Rose is shaking, but she's got Hugo's hand in hers and halfway out his door when Hermione meets them.

 

"Mum, who's screaming?"

 

Hermione doesn't know, doesn't have any idea. She pulls them close, wraps her hand tightly around her wand.

 

The screaming stops, the house grows silent.

 

The wards fall.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Six:**

 

Dean's relaxed for the first time in weeks, his feet kicked up on table as he dozes  and watches reruns of some cheap ripoff medical show.

 

He feels it right before the scream starts, like a buzzing at the base of his skull.

 

It’s like the snap in the back of his mind right before he faces death in the face, tumbles with Death.

 

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

“Dean!” His brother yells at the tail end of the grotesque screeching.

 

Dean moves.

 

And everything _stops_.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Seven:**

 

They’ve just closed another case. Another criminal is off to jail, another crime is stopped, another person saved. They’ve just closed another case, and they’re piling into their two matching black government issue SUVs to head to the airport when it happens.

 

It sounds like a woman at first, the screaming. They all react the same, hands snapping to holsters, guns pulled out at the ready.

 

The screaming goes on for what feels like an eternity, and then _silence._

 

Derek doesn’t like the way it stops, the inhuman quality to it.

 

He doesn’t like the way all the lights in any direction wink out at once, even the street lights.

 

The underlying hum of electricity that Derek doesn’t even think about on a regular basis dies out with it.

 

It’s dark and quiet and still.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Eight:**

 

Eliot pauses halfway through the delicate cut, his body tensing. The scream starts a beat later--it’s not Parker nor Hardison, but that only  calms him for a brief moment.

 

He keeps his hand wrapped around the handle of the knife as he moves through his kitchen, tries to match the sound of the long shriek of noise up to anything he’s heard before. He can’t.

 

He pounds on the door to Parker and Hardison’s little apartment, is about to pick the damn lock when it swings open.

 

Parker looks annoyed, Hardison looks exhausted.

 

“What’s the screaming for, man?” Hardison asks.

 

“It ain’t right, Hardison,” Eliot answers, and he catches the flicker in Hardison’s face when he notices the knife, “Something ain’t right.”

 

The apartment goes eerily quiet and dark.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Nine:**

Tony is asleep. Tony rarely sleeps, but he’s asleep when it hits. He’s asleep and then he’s awake, and his chest feels tight like he’s on the verge of a panic attack and--”Mr. Stark, there appears to be some sort of electrical issue affecting systems outside the tower.”

 

“Is it causing that screeching, J?” Tony asks, the tightness in his chest easing with the distraction.

 

“I am unable to confirm, sir.”

 

The sound stops as suddenly as it started, and Tony’s on his feet headed to the window when it does.

 

The lights of New York City go dark and silent, except the bright headlights of cars on the streets.

 

“JARVIS, how widespread is the blackout?”

 

“Initial reports appear to believe blackout conditions are appearing worldwide, sir. Some smaller electrical configurations and generators seem to be currently unaffected.”

 

“What? How the--”

 

His phone blares to life, interrupting his question.

 

He picks it up, answers it.

 

“--Stark?”

 

“Cap, you know what’s--”

 

“--repeat, we need--”

 

The call drops.

 

 


	2. ten-eighteen

#  ** Ten: **

There's a creature standing over Foggy, Matt can feel it. He can't tell what it is, doesn't recognize the snick-click sound it makes as anything recognizable, can't really even tell how tall it is.

 

It's obscured from him in a way that reminds him of the damned supposedly alien creatures from that day the city nearly fell.

 

He doesn't like it, and he doesn't like the way that Foggy's heartbeat has slowed.

 

He moves.

 

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Eleven:**

 

His parents are gone. There's no sign of them in the house and though the back door is swinging open without a care in the world,  all their cars are still there. His mom's purse is still sitting on the table next to it--without a lick of cash or cards missing.

 

Danny and Steve secure the house as best they can--making note that all sets of house keys are still inside even--before they go back to the guest room Grace and Charlie were sharing and open the closet.

 

Charlie is asleep with his head pooled on Grace's lap, and Grace's hands are wrapped around a little pink gun that Danny's never seen before.

 

"Where the he--" He starts, because that's his little girl, that's his little girl with a gun in her hands, but he stops when Steve takes it from her.

 

"It's a pellet gun. See, orange tip?"

 

Danny shakes his head, because this has already been the strangest fucking night, and his parents are still missing and there's no power to the house and--as far as he could tell when they looked outside--anywhere else.

 

His phone beeps, and he flicks open his messages as he sits on the bed Grace has been sleeping in.

 

[from Chin Ho: Entire island looks like it lost power, except individual backups. Could use your help, when are you back?]

 

Danny blinks, rereads the text as Grace climbs into his lap.

 

"You get that too?" Steve asks, and when Danny looks up Steve has Charlie on his hip.

 

"What the hell is going on?"

 

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Twelve:**

 

Stiles has a handgun on his hip and a loaded shotgun in his hands when Derek gets home. He has mountain ash too, a bag of it hanging off his neck where it always is.

 

It's been a couple years since he used it, but they're both aware that it doesn't mean they're safe.

 

"First thing you said to me," Stiles says, not lowering the gun when Derek comes inside.

 

"This is private property. Stiles, you're okay."

 

No, he's really not okay. He has PTSD and hasn't left their apartment in two weeks. This is just... more fucked up shit in their lives.

 

"What's going on?" He asks, and Derek shakes his head.

 

"Don't know, had to get home to you."

 

It sounds romantic, almost. But Stiles knows why.

 

Last time the power went out, he had a panic attack so bad that their neighbors called the police.

 

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Thirteen:**

 

"What's the status?" Barry asks. Len stays quiet, well aware he's not speaking to him.

 

"I don't think this is something we can fix ourselves, Barry," Ramon says, and there's a strained tension in his voice.

 

"What happened, Ramon?" Len asks before Barry can. Just as the words leave his mouth, the Flash is standing in front of him in all his red leather glory. (He's aware, thank you, that it's not leather.)

 

"Massive critical power loss is being reported worldwide."

 

Len can see the way Barry's mouth narrows into a straight thin line, can see the moment the spark of amusement leaves his eyes.

 

"Worldwide?" Barry asks, and Len watches as the man's hands ball into tight fists.

 

"I can't tell the full extent, but... here," Ramon says, and then there's an emergency broadcast system message filtering into the comms.

 

"... are being asked to stay in their homes and unplug all electronic devices to avoid a power surge when electricity is restored. Persons owning generators are recommended to use these sparingly in the event that a prompt restoration is found difficult. This is a message from the National  Emergency Broadcast System. We are currently in a state of emergency..."

 

"You... you're helping the Flash, right? That's why they let you leave the prison?" A guard asks, and Len's not even surprised that he hadn't noticed his return.

 

"What of it?"

 

"You'll need him more than ever now, won't you?"  The guard turns to Barry.

 

Barry nods, "Probably. We don't know what's causing the outage."

 

"Then... You should leave. Before the warden signals the lockdown."

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Fourteen:**

 

She's never apparated in her night clothes with her children before, but she does then. It's dangerous--even without passengers--because she doesn't _think_ before she does it, just reacts.

 

She remembers before, remembers the war. Remembers dragging the boys across the UK and a few times across Europe as they tried to survive long enough to take Voldemort down.

 

She remembers and reacts.

 

Which is how she ends up outside Grimmauld Place with bare feet and two children, in plain view of muggles.

 

She doesn't care though, doesn't give one lick about propriety or law.

 

Something in the world was screaming and then something dismantled twelve years of wards like a knife through butter.

 

She pounds on the door with her left hand, keeps her right tightly wrapped around where Rose and Hugo are already holding hands.

 

There is no answer. She tries the door knob with an acute sense of fear.

 

When it opens freely she does not enter.

 

The city street is dark, the inside equally so.

 

"Rose, Hugo. We're going to move again, okay?" She asks, swallowing down her panic.

 

She doesn't wait for a nod, a word, a shake of their little heads.

 

She apparates again.

 

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Fifteen:**

 

Dean has seen a lot of things over the years. He's seen demons and spirits and creatures and darkness and the devil and Death themselves.

 

He's still somehow unprepared for this.

 

The creature is long limbs and sharp angles, covered in dark translucent skin. It's eyes are reflective--not shining like a shifter but mirrored. It doesn't seem to have a mouth, or even a nose, just two eyes that reflect his own face back at him.

 

His own face and Sam's, anyway.

 

Dean stops, and the thing stops too.

 

Dean moves and it moves.

 

Sam moves and the creature blinks its translucent eyelids and then moves too.

 

"What the fuck is that?"

 

Dean has no idea.

 

He prays to Castiel in his head, even though he's certain it's in vain.

 

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Sixteen:**

 

"This is a message from the National  Emergency Broadcast System. We are currently in a state of emergency..." Rossi flicks the radio off when the message repeats for the third time without changing, with no new information coming out of it. JJ is whispering over the phone in the backseat, presumably with Will. Derek itches. He needs, wants, to do something. He doesn't like sitting still when something is happening.

 

"Any news?" Rossi asks after he looks down at his phone again, as if something might have changed.

 

"Nothing. We're almost to the station, right?" He asks, because it's better than the alternative.

 

Garcia isn't answering because...

 

"Right here," Rossi replies, pulling into the Beacon County Sheriff's Station right behind  the other SUV.

 

They all pile out, and Derek notes that Hotch is still on the phone when they do.

 

"He's talking to Jack," Reid says in a low voice as he slows into step beside him. Derek nods. It makes sense, even given the late hour.

 

When they get inside, there's a group of unfamiliar faces standing along the wall facing the sheriff.

 

"Agents. Wish I could say I was glad to see you back," the sheriff says, a little lilt of a smile on his lips.

 

"Sheriff, have you heard anything about what's happened?"

 

"Not a word. We've had a few complaints about people screaming and the power outage, but nothing official other than that damn emergency broadcast."

 

"Sheriff--" one of the men at the wall says, and the sheriff turns to him.

 

"Go. Have someone check in every half hour. Call if you can." The sheriff tells him, and then the man turns back to them.

 

"Do any of you have a working cell phone I can borrow? I don't have any service and I need to get a hold of my kid," the sheriff asks them as the others file out.

 

"Who are they?" Hotch asks, because someone needs to.

 

"Friends of my family," the sheriff says without any inflection as he takes Reid's offered phone.

 

They wait, the station absurdly silent as the sheriff dials.

 

"Stiles, thank god."

 

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Seventeen:**

 

Hardison isn't happy about disconnecting most of his hardware, but he understands the need. Their generator seems to be working beautifully, but they can't trust that it'll stay that way.

 

Especially after that screaming.

 

Eliot still doesn't feel right, doesn't like the way his skin feels.

 

He knows he's afraid, but he's more used to knowing what he's afraid _of._

 

"What do we do, man?" Hardison asks him.

 

Eliot doesn't know how to answer.

 

#   

 

 

#   

#  **Eighteen:**

 

"Mr. Stark, I believe you need to take care of an issue downstairs before you go find Captain Rogers, sir," JARVIS tells him, switching his HUD to a security screen of the front of his building.

 

There's a man there, slumped against the glass door of the lobby. His face is smeared with blood and something silver, his eyes staring ahead as if unseeing.

 

And there's a body in his arms, long hair across his face.

 

He doesn't know who they are, but he knows enough.

 

"Keep trying to locate Capsicle," Tony says, and he takes the shortcut down and jumps.

 


	3. nineteen-twenty-seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for off-screen character death. See the end notes for details.

#  **Nineteen:**

 

Matt flinches from the sudden wave of heat and sound, leaning over Foggy's unconscious body protectively. He still feels lethargic and ill, but he'd gotten away from the... _thing_... attacking Foggy and just kept moving.

 

Maybe it wasn't the right choice, heading for the steady thrum of electricity, but it's all Matt had. Claire hasn't been answering, his calls directly to voicemail.

 

And though he knew he ran the risk of running into more creatures, going towards the electric hum, he wasn't sure he had another choice.

 

There's a hiss, a metallic noise that reminds him of that... thing. He nearly throws Foggy behind him in his haste to move.

 

"Whoa, it's okay. Just your friendly neighborhood Iron Man here. What happened?"  a voice asks and it's a familiar voice, as familiar as a celebrity can be.

 

Tony Stark.

 

He's in front of the Avengers Tower, he thinks.

 

Thank God.

 

 

 

 

#  **Twenty:**

The decision to move isn't one they make lightly. Danny has concerns--namely Grace and Charlie, but also his parents--but the longer they stay holed up in the house, the more they both start to feel incredibly uneasy.

 

Steve pulls their rented car as close to the front door as he can manage, and Danny stands guard as Grace and Charlie climb into the backseat.

 

He throws their quickly packed bags into the trunk and then slides into the front passenger seat himself.

 

He doesn’t _like_ this, but he gets the distinct impression that something _bad_ is happening.

 

It reminds him of days he’d much rather forget.

 

His phone rings as they’re headed down the road, Rachel’s name lighting up the screen. He almost doesn’t answer, but then realizes he can’t do that to her.

 

“Hello?”

 

“Oh, Danny, thank god. I’ve been trying to reach you for almost an hour,” his ex-wife says, and there’s something in the tone of her voice that scares him.

 

“Rach, what’s wrong?”

 

“Oh, Danny... I need to talk to the kids, and then... then I promise, I’ll tell you,” Rachel says and Danny wants to demand she tell him first.

 

But he doesn’t.

 

“Monkey, your mom wants to talk to you two. I need to talk to her before she hangs up though, okay?” Danny tells his little girl, passing the phone back. He watches Grace nod through the rearview mirror as she takes the phone.

 

“You okay?” Steve asks him, and Danny shakes his head. He doesn’t say anything else--he could, he can think of a million things to say, but he doesn’t say any of them. There isn’t a _point_.

 

Steve already knows it all anyway.

 

They’re both silent for a few minutes, and then Grace is tapping on his shoulder. He takes the phone.

 

“Rach?”

 

“Danny, I--”

 

The call drops and takes the pit of Danny’s stomach with it.

 

He tries to call back, but it doesn’t connect.

 

“What did your mom say to you, Grace?” Danny asks, redialing again.

 

“She said she loved us and to be good for you.”

 

“We can’t forget she love us,” Charlie interrupts, and suddenly Danny just _knows._

 

That’s the kind of thing you say when you know you’re going to die.

 

 

 

#  **Twenty-one:**

 

Stiles knows what Derek’s going to say before he says it, “I think we need to go somewhere else.”

 

He’s not surprised. He thinks, if he was the same person he was a few years ago, back before everything went to shit, he might have even said it first.

 

Not that anyone ever _listened_ to him back then.

 

“I know,” Stiles responds, because he _does_ know. Their apartment is nice, in a fairly quiet neighborhood. It’s as safe as it can be, in this area.

 

But it’s not all that _defensible._

 

Despite the years and distance that separates them from Beacon Hills, they’d both gone through too much to just shut that instinct off.

 

“There’s... I know a guy--”Derek starts, but Stiles just interrupts with a nod.

 

“My dad’s safe, I’ve got you. I trust you.” I love you, Stiles doesn’t say. Derek already knows that anyway.

 

“We could always...”

 

“No, we both know why we can’t go back there. My dad... if this...”

 

“He’d leave there in an instant if you asked,” Derek says.

 

Stiles smiles, just a little.

 

It’s a lie, they both know it. But it’s one that’s nice to imagine.

 

They start to pack after that.

 

 

 

 

# Twenty-two:

They make their way out of the prison in relative silence. Silence on their end, anyway. Ramon continues talking, reading off reports about the widespread blackout, about the panic.

 

And about something that sounds like it crept out of a horror novel.

 

“... this one says the things have reflective eyes, but like, no face otherwise.”

 

“Are the reports widespread?” Barry asks.

 

“Pretty much--” Ramon answers, cutting himself off with a swear, “ _Barry!_ I need you back here, _now!_ ”

 

It’s not the first time he’s ridden on the Flash Express, but it never fails to disorient the hell out of him. Not that he’ll _ever_ admit that.

 

STAR Labs is fairly dark when they arrive, only the emergency lights on throughout the hallways. It’s the brightest building in the area, which seems incredibly _off._

 

When they reach Ramon a few seconds later, they see the creature.

 

It’s just as grotesque and horrifying as he had described, perhaps more so since they’re seeing the thing with its long thin limbs draped over Ramon.

 

Barry attacks it, runs straight at the thing without a second thought. When he hits it, the thing shrieks, that same inhuman sound that had stopped them both cold just a short while before. It’s not as loud, but it’s the same.

 

Exactly the same.

 

Len gets Ramon upright with a sharp pull, drags him a little away from the Flash and the creature. Ramon is shaking, not a subtle little shake but a full body twitch.

 

“Calm down,” Len hisses, because he doesn’t know what else to do here.

 

Ramon manages to stand on his own, though he doesn’t look up at Len. He shifts a little, his shaking lessening the longer he’s separated from... _whatever_ that thing is.

 

And then Barry screams.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Twenty-Three:**

 

She stumbles through the entryway of the safehouse, Hugo and Rose clutched tightly to her side.

 

It's dark inside, it's dark inside and Hermione doesn't know what's happening.

 

Just that it's bad; that something is wrong.

 

_Wrong, **wrong** , **wrong**. _

 

She can feel the wrongness in the air, almost taste it. It's sour and heavy and dark.

 

There's a bang behind her, and she hardly has time to pull Rose and Hugo out of the way of the flickering spectral shape of her husband’s Patronus.

 

“Get out of the country. Not safe. Love you. Alw--” the Patronus cuts off, flickers once more, and disappears.

 

She knows in that instant that it's not because he stopped the spell, she feels it uncurl in her chest like a scream.

 

Ron is dead.

 

She doesn't think, just acts. Inside the dusty vase on the mantle is a set of keys--an illegal portkey to the States.

 

She grabs them in one hand, wraps her arms around her children, and prays.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Twenty-Four:**

 

They manage to escape into the parking lot of the motel, Sam’s arm bleeding heavily. They’ve abandoned a bag of weapons on the bed, but they have others.

 

They have other weapons, but they don’t know that they’ll get another chance if they die again.

 

Dean doesn’t see anyone around the parking lot, no curious faces peering out of motel windows. The person who had taken their money in the lobby isn’t even visible.

 

The creature screams in anger as it jumps through their motel room window, glass shattering all around them.

 

Dean lifts his gun and fires--once, twice, three times.

 

The thing doesn’t pause, just shrieks that unholy shriek again and picks up speed. Dean’s about to throw his keys to Sam, to tell Sam to get the hell out of there and save himself.

 

And then there’s a car, the screech of tires on asphalt, and the creature is suddenly pinned against the brick wall of the motel--and it’s finally silent.

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Twenty-Five:**

 

“Sheriff Stilinski?” a woman’s voice asks, and Derek turns towards her.

 

The woman is young--early twenties, if Derek had to guess--wearing a flower-print dress and a pair of tall tan boots. Her red hair is pulled back from her face.

 

“Lydia... What’s wrong?”

 

“They’re crying... they’re all crying.”

 

 

 

 

#  **Twenty-Six:**

 

“Spencer,” Eliot answers, his phone at his ear.

 

“Are you and your team still in Portland?” the man on the other end asks. Eliot snaps his fingers in Hardison’s direction and points to his phone.

 

“We are, Officer Hale. Can I help you with something?”

 

Hardison shrugs a little, pointing towards his disabled equipment.

 

_Damn it_.

 

“My partner and I need your help, Consider this me calling in my favor.”

 

 

 

 

 

#  **Twenty-Seven:**

 

The man and his companion are bloody, beaten. He doesn’t know how the blind guy is still standing, let alone hefting his unconscious friend onto the couch.

 

“Mr, Stark, Captain Rogers is attempting to contact you again,” JARVIS says, and Tony immediately connects the call.

 

“Steve?”

 

“ _Tony_ ,” Steve’s voice sounds relieved, which does a lot to calm Tony’s still present panic.

 

“Where are you?”

 

“We’re on our way to you. Hawkeye stole a Quinjet.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Characters who die off-screen in this chapter include: Rachel Edwards, Ron Weasley. Ron should be the only character in the relationship tags who dies.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also [ find me on tumblr.](http://writerdragonfly.tumblr.com)


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